


Silent Night, Deadly Night

by slashyrogue



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas fic, Inspired by Movie of the Same Name, M/M, Serial Killer Hannibal, Slasher Film AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-28 22:46:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17191694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashyrogue/pseuds/slashyrogue
Summary: Will is woken one night by the screams of his new neighbors on Christmas Eve.What he sees when he peeks through the blinds is something out of a horror movie.





	Silent Night, Deadly Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jhonni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jhonni/gifts).



 

What woke him were the screams.   


Will groaned, rolled onto his belly and pulled the pillow over his head.  
  
Damn sorority girls.   


It was just his bad luck when they moved in next door. Wolf Trap had always been a college town but never so close to him. He’d been lucky to have lived here with few neighbors the past few years, avoided most social contact, and things had been mostly calm.

 

Then the four girls moved in next door and that was the end to the quiet. He’d called the cops on the girls plenty of times over the past year but gotten little peace in return, which made him stop bothering all together. 

  
The dogs started to bark when there was another scream, this one shrill and loud enough that he was sure other neighbors would call the cops again. 

  
Serve those bratty kids right. 

  
He stood up, walked to the window, and peeled back the blinds in hope that he’d get a peek at one of them being arrested. 

  
Will leaned in closer to the window just in time to see one of the girls race across their backyard followed by what looked like Santa Claus. 

  
Will scoffed. 

  
Were they having some kind of Christmas orgy? 

  
He was about to let go when he saw Santa Claus lift up an axe that was soon buried into sorority girl’s head. She fell face first and didn’t move. 

  
“Shit.” 

  
Santa turned just as Will let go of the blinds. He staggered back and fell to his knees, knocking his head against the footboard. 

  
Has he seen what he thought he had? 

  
His heart beat wildly in his chest as he tried to tell himself he’d only imagined it. There was no way someone dressed as Santa had just murdered one of the sorority girls next door.

 

The dogs were all awake now, excited and eager to get outside as they barked. He stared at the front door and tried to remind himself again maybe he was just overtired.

 

Things like that didn’t happen in real life.

 

Will stood up, a dull ache still in the back of his head, and opened the door to let them outside.   


The pack ran out in a rush and froze when another scream came from next door. 

  
The dogs all started to bark and rush the fence. 

  
“No!”   


Will ran out and was halfway to the fence just in time to see Santa dragging someone by the foot towards the house. Santa was covered in blood, face and suit both, and his smile was warmer than it should be.    


“Hello.”  


He swallowed. “H...hi.”  


“I apologize for waking you.”  


Will’s voice shook. “It’s ok. I’m gonna go inside now.”  


Santa smiled. “Goodnight, Will.”  


He let out a shaky breath, turned, and ran off to the house. The dogs followed when he whistled, hands shaking as he tried to open the door. Once he was inside he froze.  


How had Santa known his name?  


Will walked to the window to peek outside again and saw no one in the sorority girls’ yard. He let out a long breath and walked back to the bed in his living room. The adrenaline seemed to be pulsing in his veins as he sat down.  


He reached for his phone just as the back door creaked.  


And to think he’d been meaning to grease those hinges.   


The dogs all seemed unfazed but Will knew Santa was inside his house.   


“I won’t call anyone! I...I was just seeing what time it was.”  


There was a soft huff of breath.  


“It is three thirty-three on December twenty fourth.”  


“I have plenty of dogs who will—“  


He heard Santa’s steps now, no longer an attempt at a sneak attack, and when the light was turned on the bottom dropped out of his stomach.   


The man in front of him still wore the bloody Santa suit, covered in red from head to toe, complete with a butcher knife that dripped onto Will’s tile floor.

  
“You don’t have to kill me.” 

  
Santa smiled. “Oh? I’ve killed your student neighbors and the two couples on both sides. One more body wouldn’t faze me. A strong witness would.”   


Will gripped the comforter tight.  


“I don’t care that you killed anyone.”  


“The fear in your eyes suggests otherwise.”  


He took a deep breath and stood up, the dogs all going to Santa who pet them softly. His smile made him even more attractive, though it was hard to look beyond the blood.  


“They don’t usually like strangers.”  


“No I don’t suppose they do, Will.”  


“How do you—?”  


The killer’s smile widened as he looked up through his eyelashes. “I have waited twelve years for this night. Do you think I would not be thorough?”  


“Twelve? That’s a long time.”  


Santa moved toward him and Will fell right back down onto the bed.   


“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”  


Will followed his movement and tried to calm down.   


The knife made that very difficult.  


“What did they do?”  


Santa stopped at the foot of his bed and gripped tight the metal frame. “I suppose I can tell you the tale since you will not leave to repeat it.”

 

He moved back just once and felt his back hit the headboard. “Please. I...I’d love to hear it.”

 

Will watched as his would be killer sat in the recliner that was between him and the door. He set his knife down on the chair’s arm and let out a long sigh.

 

“You wouldn’t, but I will tell you anyway. If only to satisfy your curiosity before I finish this night.”

 

Buster got up and came to Will’s side, nudging his hand for petting. Will gripped his collar and tried not to show how frightened he was. “There are more of them,” Will said, “The girls. It’s Christmas and they’re not all---”

 

“Yes I am aware, though there is no problem. It serves the message just fine with three. Their fathers know what they did.”

 

“What did they---”

 

Santa smiled. “Do you have a family, Will?”   


“No, I...my dad died last year and my mother left when I was a kid. We weren’t friendly with any of my relatives.”

 

“So you spend Christmases alone?”

 

Will nodded, gripping his hand together as he tried to stare at the phone so close to him.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“My family was taken from me,” Santa said, “The Lecters owned the house next door for many years until the night they didn’t.”

 

Will pet Winston again. “They took the house?”

 

“The fathers of those young women took my parents and my sister. Their negligence made it possible for their killers to murder them.”

Will let out a shaky breath. “But it wasn’t those girls. How is that justified?”

 

Santa leaned forward in his chair. “Justification has nothing to do with revenge. They let my family die so I took theirs in return.”

 

“But twelve years?”

 

“They had to feel safe, they had to love these young women, and then have them taken away. I have waited a very long time for this night.”

 

“I still don’t think it’s fair, S--sir.”

 

Santa smiled. “Hannibal Lecter.”

 

“Hannibal,” Will said, the name on his tongue feeling like acid, “Why is it fair to kill all the neighbors?”

 

“It isn’t. Nothing in life is fair, Will. The others were….canon fodder.”

 

“What did they do?” Will asked, “You didn’t say.”

 

“The night I watched my family hacked to death, I clung to life as the killers dressed as Santa took our possessions and ran off into the night. I never forgot their faces, nor will I their screams when I came for them later. Yet that night when my mother called the police for help none came. It sounded like a party, they said. A prank. They didn’t feel the need to disrupt holiday festivities for something that may be accidental. There were policemen on call that night who said they would do a wellness check but declined. The 911 operator herself said it was not a priority. They were all at fault.”

 

“An eye for an eye.”

 

“Yes,” Hannibal said, “You understand. I can see it in your eyes.”

 

Will couldn’t help his nod. “I do, but….I don’t want to die.”

 

Hannibal leaned back in the chair and the knife fell to the floor beside him with a soft clank.

 

“Death is inevitable, Will. But we have hours yet until their bodies will be found. Tell me a story of your own. Let us share this now blissfully silent night.”

 

Will stared at his hands and then at Hannibal again.

 

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

 

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

 

Will let out a laugh. “No! Why would I---”

 

“Have you ever felt as if you could?”

 

He licked his lips. “Yeah.”

 

“Who?”

 

“My father,” Will whispered, his voice suddenly thick, “He...he wasn’t a good man.”

 

Hannibal’s gaze was warm. “He hurt you?”

 

“Not physically.”

 

“Emotionally abuse is still abuse.”

 

Will’s hands shook as he moved to the side of the bed and his legs dangled off the edge.

 

“I just….I wanted it to end.”

 

“Yet you did nothing.”

 

“No. But when I went to college I never came back.”

 

“Were you happy he died?”   


He looked at Hannibal with teary eyes. “Yes.”

 

“I mourn my family every single day I’m alive yet their deaths gave me purpose. Do you have purpose other than your teaching, Will?”   


“No,” Will whispered, his voice thick.

 

“I could give you purpose. Your death would be the final note in an otherwise unfinished magnum opus.”

 

“But the dogs---”

 

“Would be taken to shelters. They are all well behaved. There is no need to worry.”

 

Will wiped the tears from his cheeks and sniffled. “Would you make it hurt?”   


“Not for long.”

 

“Don’t kill my dogs.”

 

“I won’t.”   


He looked at the phone at his bedside and thought again to lunge for it. Would he make it in time or anger Hannibal into actions he promised not to do?

 

Will fell back onto his bed and turned to look at Hannibal.

 

“Okay.”

 

He watched him lean down for the knife and with each step the worry seemed to dissipate. When he climbed over Will and stared down into his eyes he looked as if he regretted what he was about to do.

 

“Close your eyes.”

 

Will did just as he felt Hannibal lean in and the air in the room seemed to change. He felt the warmth of Hannibal’s breath across his lips just before he was kissed. The touch of lips was warm, tender, and tasted like blood.

 

That’s when Will struck.

 

Hannibal was thrown off him as Will grabbed for the knife, rolling them back and forth as they fought. He hissed and grunted as Hannibal didn’t let up, and their huffed breaths only were the only sound he heard until the dogs started to bark.

 

“You surprised me,” Hannibal said.

 

“I surprised me too,” Will grunted as he kicked out at him.

 

His miscalculation made it easier for Hannibal to grab his knee and twist it around, flipping Will onto his back. Hannibal wrapped his hands around Will’s neck and started to squeeze as he stared into Will’s eyes.

 

“You have life left in you after all.”

 

Will fought for breath.

 

“I’m sorry, Will.”

 

His vision turned hazy and Will tried to kick out, but his body betrayed him. The last thing he saw was Hannibal’s frown as the light faded from his eyes.

 

When he woke his neck ached and throat felt dry but he was alive.

 

The house was spotless and he found a note by the bed.

 

**You are more than a music note.**

 

**-H**

 

He passed his tongue over his lips.

 

_Blood._

 

Will’s hands shook as he picked up his cell phone and typed in his query.

 

Who is Hannibal Lecter?

 

An hour later he packed up the dogs and took off on a long drive.

 

This opus wasn’t yet finished. 

 

After all, neither of them should be alone on Christmas.

 


End file.
